The new cTn-I test is based on the specific immune-chemical reactions between antigen and antibody on immunochromatographic test strips using AuNPs.

Compared to traditional chemical methods, the surfaces of the gold nanoparticles generated by the microplasma-induced liquid chemical process attract more antibodies which results in significantly higher detection sensitivity.

“The new technology has great potential for other biomedical and therapeutic applications such as tumour detection, cancer imaging, drug delivery and treatment of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s,” said Kurt H Becker, professor at NYU’s school of engineering.